We’ve all faced hard times during the COVID-19 pandemic: death or serious illness of friends and family members, job loss, financial hardships, isolation and more. And Kimberly Jones, “Real Talk Kim,” understands. In fact, she says, “I’ve gone through the worst year ever this year. But it’s turned out to be the best year because I changed the way I’m looking at it.”
The power of changing perspective is what she shares in her most recent book, Shut Hell Up, and it’s also the power she practices in her own life. “I was raised in a very strict religion, and I always thought that if you shouted hard enough, or if you fell on the floor and did a courtesy fall for God, then everything was going to go away because God was a genie in a bottle,” she says.
But after recovering from her own bad choices earlier in life and enduring many trials, including the death of her father this year, Jones says, “I started looking at mishaps in life, bad choices in life, divorce, hurt, pain—I started looking at it like it’s free life college, like God is trusting you. And it changes the perspective, it changes the way that you look at your situations and your storms. You really can dance in the puddles. And it helps the storms go away quicker when you start changing your perspective.
“And so I just realized that Romans 8:28 says that God is working all things together for your good,” Jones says. “That means He is going to work that ‘x’ thing for your good. He’s going to work that situation out for your good, that health crisis for your good; He has got it all worked out.
“So I think we begin to focus on God, and not focus on what’s going on around us,” Jones adds. “I shifted the way I handled turmoil in life and storms in life when I finally realized, Ohhhh, devil, you are going to wish you would mess with somebody else, because I’m about to get my tail up. And when I get my tail up, I’m about to pull as many people up out of their hell as I can.
“And so I think that’s the key looking at it: As long as you ain’t dead, God ain’t done,” she says. “As long as you’ve got a pulse, God’s got a plan. And so if you just get up, He’s going to give you a bestseller. Everybody’s got a story—might as well make yours a bestseller.”
To hear more from Real Talk Kim about how you can change your perspective on life and “shut hell up,” click here to listen to the entire podcast. And be sure to share it with friends, family and others who may be in the midst of serious challenges. Jones’ Spirit-birthed firepower will help move them into victory! {eoa}
Stephen Strang 
